At CES this year, Corsair introduced a new series of peripherals were cutting the cord is now a thing for their peripherals. The problem with most devices such as this is that at some point, you will always need to keep the cable handy or hope that when you go wireless, that there is a base charging unit offered. The batteries will only last so long, and it never fails that at some point down the road, with usage, the cables do come back.

In an attempt to make it, so wired devices no longer need the use of the cable, unless flashing firmware, nobody honestly wants to deal with finding the cable or having it strewn across the desk waiting for the time when the batteries flat line.

To rectify the situations, Corsair has gone ahead and added a Qi wireless charging pad inside of a mouse pad. This means that not only can you charge a wireless mouse, but with an included receiver, you can also charge mobile devices while you work or game as well.

This is where we get to the MM1000 from Corsair, their first attempt at a truly wireless gaming setup. Not only is there a designated area for charging of devices, Corsair delivers this in a hard style gaming mouse pad. Taking things one step further, the new MM1000 uses a pair of USB 3.0 leads to connect to the PC.

One to supply the mouse pad with power for the Qi Charger and another to support a USB 3.0 port in the back edge of the pad for things like thumb drive or headset connectivity. That being said, we have put the MM1000 Qi Wireless Charging Mouse Pad through its paces, and are here now to tell you what we have discovered.

Packaging for the MM1000 is done in typical Corsair fashion with the black box and yellow highlights. On the front, just below the Corsair name and logo, we find a nearly life-sized image of the MM1000 mouse pad.

The triangle in the bottom-right corner denotes the inclusion of the Qi charging adapter, and to the left of it, we find three features listed, such as the Qi capability, additional adapters, and that the pad is made of a hard surface with micro-texture.

On the back, we see much of the same information. This time, however, we do see the charging adapter placed on the charging portion of the pad. To the right of that, we get the same features listed but do see that the MM1000 also comes with a USB 3.0 pass-through port. At the bottom, there is an explanation of the product, what it does, what it is compatible with, and where to go to look at warranty information.

Accessories for the MM1000 are what is shown here. For any wireless device which could use charging, Corsair sends along the micro USB wireless charging receiver. To ensure the greatest compatibility across as many devices as possible, Corsair also includes a USB Type-C and Lightning adapter for said charger.

Even though the device is quite simple in its functionality, Corsair sends along a safety and compliance insert, the MM1000 manual, and also an insert about warranty coverage. Most of this is not needed, as you just plug in the mouse pad, and start using it.

Fresh out of the box, we find that the MM1000 is 13.75" wide and 10.75 inches from front to back. While most of the surface is black textured plastic, there is a set of gray rings which denote where the Qi charger is located. At the back left corner, the pad is much thicker, to accommodate the USB 3.0 pass-through port and also is where the indicator LED is found.

Corsair could have made this section of the pad flat and boring, but they took the time to add a bit of style with all of the angles and the corsair logo which is pressed into the plastic. We can see the USB 3.0 pass-through port, and we can also see the thick braided cable exiting the MM1000.

To supply the MM1000 with adequate power, we find that the thick braided cable ends up splitting into a pair of USB 3.0 connections. The thicker of the two is for the mouse pad, while the skinny one is used to power the pass-through port on the back.

To ensure the MM1000 stays where you intended it to, the entire back side of it is covered in rubber with raised hexagonal pads to grip whatever surface it is placed upon.

To add a bit of scale and show off how the MM1000 works, we added a mouse on top of the pad, and also are using the Qi receiver plugged into our phone. Notice that both the pads led is green as well as the one of the receiver, showing that the device is charging. To charge Qi mice, you place it over the ringed area, and the same can be done with any Qi capable mobile devices. Keep in mind, this is a slow charge system, so it will take longer to charge for some devices than you may be used to.

The good parts about the MM1000 come down to personal preference on the size of the device, and what it is you would like from a Qi charging mouse pad. In our testing, we find that the size is good, and for those who tend to use a higher DPI setting, there will be no need to lift the mouse. For those who use lower DPI settings, you will have to lift quite a bit using a device of this size.

We like the extra USB 3.0 port on the MM1000, which allows for non-wireless mice to be plugged in, and when using a wireless device, you can use this port for thumb drives or headphone connectivity without having to reach for the PC. The styli8ng is minimal, but we do like the angled shape of the port and LED cove, along with the angles presented across the top edge of the pad. All in all, the MM1000 is a fairly decent device at first glance.

There are some downsides to this device as well, at least from our perspective. The micro-textured top may be good for some, but we felt like when using the mouse, it was akin to trying to catch a greased pig. By this, we mean that there is little to no resistance at all between the mouse and the pad. To some, this may be a good thing, but the fact is, with every click, scroll of the mouse wheel, even the heartbeat in your body will move the mouse cursor. In gaming or things like image editing, the MM1000 proves to be more of a pain in the bum than a pleasurable experience.

While we do like the Qi charging nature of this device, we are aware that there are pads available where the entire surface is a charger, not just a specific area. With the MM1000, if the mouse dies, you are left having to either plug the mouse in using it wired or set the mouse on the designated area and wait. We would have also loved it if the pad offered quick charging, but with that, we may be asking too much.

Compared to other mouse pads on the market, we do not feel that the MM1000's $79.99 price point is that far out of reality. Considering you can spend nearly $50 on a similarly size4d foam and cloth pad, we feel the features do make up for the price increase. However, unless you like being limited to where you can charge a device and the fact that after a week of use accuracy was still poor in all aspects of use, we feel that maybe Corsair could have done a few things differently to deliver a close to perfect product than what they have here.

The MM1000 Qi Charging Mouse Pad does bring some cool new features to those looking at the new wireless peripherals from Corsair, but we feel that a mouse pad should work well as a mouse pad first, and then have features applied. It seems to have slipped past Corsair, as it appears to us, that they just wanted to be first at something, no matter how it worked out in the end for customers.

Product Summary Breakdown

Performance

75%

Quality

80%

Features

75%

Value

79%

Overall TweakTown Rating

77%

The Bottom Line: The Corsair MM1000 is a good idea on paper, but it does not seem to translate to a good user experience in reality! The surface is too slick, the Qi Charging area is too small and slow, and unless you have a series need to take up room on the pad to charge mobile devices, there is no need to buy this!

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